Brewery Tour: Ghostfish Brewing (Seattle, Washington)

Get Behind-The-Scenes

with Ghostfish Brewing Company

This post is long overdue. Remember last summer when I toured the Pacific Northwest to visit 3 different dedicated gluten free breweries? I have been sitting on a ton of footage from these tours (3 days worth, to be exact) and recently I found time to finish the teaser for Seattle’s Ghostfish Brewing.

Remember The GF Beer Tour?

Basically I took 4 days off of work to drive around the Pacific Northwest, visit some of my favorite gluten free breweries, and interview the brewmasters and owners. Before I left, I gathered a list of questions from Best Gluten Free Beers readers, and when I visited, I asked every single one of them. Now, you may not find all of your answers in the brew tour teasers because there was just SO MUCH great footage, I couldn’t fit it all into a short video. Don’t worry though! I have plans to develop a mini-documentary for each one. All I need to do now is find the time to crunch the footage.

The other two brew tour teasers were released a while back, one for Moonshrimp Brewing in Portland, and another for Ground Breaker Brewing–also in Portland. Every single tour was so unique. I had a blast at each stop, and learned something new from every head brewer I talked to.

Life Gets In The Way

So why has it taken me so long to get this third teaser out? (Skip this paragraph if you don’t care.) The truth is, I have been a busy bee these past 6 months. I am in the process of launching two new businesses. One of them IS gluten free-related, but the second is from my “other” life as an acrobat and yogi. My day job, some might call it. Did you know that about me? I spend most of my day upside down…doing acrobatic things. (Don’t believe me? Check out my newly launched website Slackrobats Academy.)

Besides the busy business side of things, I also have sustained several injuries over the past few months. One of which was particularly traumatic and involved me losing part of my left finger in an exacto knife incident. Yeah…I don’t recommend it. If you are fascinated by gruesome accidents…feel free to entertain yourself on my personal Facebook wall…say, around late October 2017 on. You may have noticed my bandaged finger in the back of recent beer pour videos. It was a slow and gruesome recovery which I am only now coming back from, 3 months later.

Beer wall. Metaphor for my year. (haha!)

…On To The Ghostfish Brewing Teaser!

So with that said, thank you for your patience readers! And now I’m excited to announce that the teaser for Ghostfish Brewing Company is (finally!) complete. If you follow the Best Gluten Free Beers youtube page, you may have already gotten a sneak peak since I uploaded it a few days ago. (Hint: Subscribe on YouTube to get early access to future videos.)

This was a fun one to edit, but it was even more fun to film. Much like the other breweries I’ve toured, everyone on staff had such a high level of enthusiasm and passion for what they do. The space they operate in is gorgeous too. It’s what we would all refer to as a major score. The natural light, high ceilings and modern remodel of classic architecture give the space a classy warehouse feel. If you’re interested, I posted a whole blog about my taproom experience at Ghostfish. You can read it here.

The brewery floor, from above.

A Pilot Brew Saves The Day

No behind-the-scenes look at a fast-growing company would be complete without a little glimpse into the chaos, right? I showed up for my scheduled brew tour on a beautiful Seattle morning, only to learn that a series of miscommunications and schedule changes had resulted in no commercial brewing happening that day. Uh oh. (That was kind of the whole point!)

This whole trip had been carefully planned, and I was on a tight schedule. I couldn’t afford to stay an extra day because I had to be back in Portland the following day for my next brew tour. Luckily (for all of us) a new plan quickly took form. Ghostfish’s brewmaster, Jason Yerger, decided to brew an all-grain pilot batch with us, using the (higher-end) home brew setup they have in the brewery which they use to brew their small experimental batches.

The pilot system Jason brewed on while I was there.

In the end, I’m glad this happened, because it’s going to give you home brewers out there a much more helpful insight into the art of brewing gluten free. I followed him around the brewery all day–every step of the way. The extended version of the brew tour will include all of this footage in addition to some bonus commercial brewing footage Jason sent me afterwards, so stand by!

The Ghostfish Kitchen 2.0

Something worth mentioning…the kitchen side of things has undergone a complete revamp and chef change since I visited. For that reason, I didn’t include much about the food in the teaser–as it has all changed since I was there. When I visited, I ordered the Fish ‘n Chips, which I’ll be honest…I’ve been craving ever since I left.

I had long forgotten the pleasure of battered and fried fish. But after getting to enjoy gluten free, dairy free beer-battered Fish ‘n Chips again with a side of grapefruit remoulade…there are just no words to describe that experience as a gluten free person. Just go and get some. Their entire kitchen is dedicated gluten free, so you can order from a menu like a normal person! Oh, and I’m pretty sure the Fish ‘n Chips dish survived the menu overhaul.

Alas, Here It Is!

Alright, enough talk…let’s get on to this big tease of a teaser. Remember that I will be releasing an extended version of each of these brew tours. That mini-documentary will include much more insight into the actual brew process itself, along with some special tips and tricks the brewmasters had to share with all of you! (Especially helpful if you are a GF home brewer.)

If you know of anyone else who may benefit from this information (or entertainment) please don’t hesitate to share this resource! There is so much passion in this industry and our community is no exception. Everyday this Best Gluten Free Beers family grows is also a day that the interests of gluten free beer drinkers are aligned, creating a more powerful voice in this quickly growing industry.